Two members of Mersey Ferry staff were hailed as heroes after jumping into the water and saving the girl from drowning, or potentially being crushed against the sea wall.

Eyewitnesses said they heard a woman screaming, before seeing the little girl struggling in the water below.

Eyewitness Joe Hughes, a civil servant who was also on the ferry, told the Liverpool Echo: "I was on the ferry just before when it was docking in Seacombe and a young girl somehow toppled over and fell into the water. There was a gap between the ferry and the dock. Me and a friend were on the top deck and there was a lot of commotion or shouting and the girl was down there."